2G scam: ED to send fresh LRs to British Virgin Islands

New Delhi: Investigators probing the alleged financial irregularities in the 2G spectrum scam will send supplementary Letters Rogatory (LRs) to the British Virgin Islands as their recent visit to the nation did not get them the desired information about firms registered there.

A joint team of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI had recently travelled to the tax haven nation in connection with its probe against eight firms involved in the 2G case and met the Attorney General of the island nation.

The team, according to official sources, found that the financial details and returns of the firms under the scanner were not available with the authorities in the country as it is not mandatory to file these details after they are registered.

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) authorities will collect these details at their end and also ask the firms to do so.

A supplementary LR will also be sent regarding this, the sources said.

The team had travelled to the island nation earlier this month after the ED obtained certain leads in the investments made by a real estate firm and a telecom company in the foreign country and also about certain firms allegedly related to those connected to the scam.

The ED had sent a Letters Rogatory (LR) to the country last year in these instances, the sources said.

The probe team wanted to gather details on holding patterns and investments made by these entities.

However, some information was obtained, more will come once the BVI authorities gather full details, they said.

A money laundering case has been registered by the ED in this case and it has found that while some firms had floated some subsidiaries in the country, few other investments in the 2G spectrum allocation case have been routed from here.

The joint team of investigators from both the agencies had earlier visited UK, Isle of Man, Singapore and Cyprus last year with regard to their probe in the same case.